voice
by MeowthTwo
Summary: Sam loses his voice, and so he, Mikaela and Bumblebee have to find another way to communicate, and Bumblebee explains what it means to him.


Voice

Disclaimer: Paramount/Hasbro/Dreamworks own the Transformers not me.

Rating: T

Summary: Sam loses his voice, and so he, Mikaela and Bumblebee have to find another way to communicate, and Bumblebee explains what it means to him.

"I can't stay long today Bumblebee, to do the full wash and wax, I'll just give you a quick rub over with a wet leather," said Mikaela doing so; "I've really popped over to see Sam. I'm worried about him. He's lost his voice."

"What? Where?" The little Autobot became agitated. "Did some Decepticon take it?"

Mikaela laughed. "No - you'd be the first to know if we were attacked. A virus has affected his throat and he's finding it hard to speak."

"Poor Sam," said Bumblebee, "Is there any chance I could see him?"

"I'll see if he'll come down," said Mikaela, finishing off and standing up. She rang the bell and he heard Sam's Mom's effusive greeting as she was welcomed in and her high-heeled sandals clicking up the stairs.

Sam came down shortly. He looked pale, and there was a scarf around his throat. Bumblebee opened the door and they got in, Sam in the driving seat, which felt right for both of them now.

"Eeyucka-kaka-fwa-ha." Sam coughed and wheezed just at the change of atmosphere getting into the car.

"Here - I - am - Bee. You - wanted - to - talk."

"No Sam, I wanted to see you. Not talk. Mikaela said you were unwell. Just sit quiet."

"You- don't- wanna-ask any-questions?" Sam knew if he was an alien arriving for the first time on Earth, that's what he'd be doing.

"I assimilated all the knowledge of your planet through the World Wide Web. I just wanted you with me."

Sam put his hand on the dash, then on the steering wheel.

"You - feel - this?"

"Yes, I have sensors everywhere, like you have nerves in your skin."

Sam put his other arm around Mikaela. She put an arm round him and a hand on the dash, moving it around. She was used to touching cars, even stroking them. But this was no ordinary car, this was a loyal friend. They owed each other their lives.

They sat in silence for a bit, enjoying each other's company. Then Sam coughed. It was a bit embarrassing, this sort of group hug, and he felt very self-conscious.

"Do you have any questions for me?" asked Bumblebee.

"I have one." said Mikaela. "This All Spark we were trying to save, was it alive?"

"Yes!" came from both Sam and Bee.

She looked at Sam in surprise. He took a breath.

"While I was carrying it, it was the most alive thing I've ever felt."

"It was a bit like us" said Bumblebee.

Sam put his head down on the steering wheel.

"Oh no - I've killed one of your friends."

"Not exactly a friend. It was very powerful. And very old. It started us off."

"That's worse. I've - killed - one - of - your - gods."

"Sam, do not distress yourself. Megatron had to be stopped. As for the Cube, well, it was very powerful, but if it was only to be used for evil, it was better it was destroyed."

"Was it male or female?" asked Mikaela.

"Both." They replied together again. "And neither." added Bee.

"Really?" again she asked Sam first. She was more used to talking to a face.

"It kinda felt like that when I held it."

"It told me so" said Bumblebee.

"Yes, well I guess it would have to be, wouldn't it, to create life?"

"Not necessarily. Single sexed beings have born live young, but they're usually like clones or less adaptable. Or a computer and robots can produce another computer or robots - or cars - with no reference to sex at all. But the Cube was raw power, total creative power - and little machines always came out ready to defend themselves - and total regenerative power. It probably contained all your feelings, and more, and infinite personalities to create sentience. And it could have been an artefact, but I am not very old, only several thousands of years, I wasn't there when it came, though it brought me forth, and I don't know all its mysteries."

He gave an electronic sigh. "Sorry Sam. We're leaving you out."

"No, you – two – go - ahead. I'm - not - very good - at - talking - at - the - moment." This was quite a long sentence, and Sam had to lean back in the car seat to deal with the subsequent bout of coughing that wracked his throat, chest and lungs. Mikaela put out

an arm to steady him, making sure not to obstruct his airway.

"Sam, you're endangering your life-force trying to talk. Please, there are other means of communication."

Sam looked at his hands and tried to remember the few words of Amislan (American Sign Language) they had learned in Social Studies last quarter. He signed them to Mikaela.

"I-love-you - friend" she translated. "Well, that's O.K. for you and me Sam, but what about Bumblebee?"

"I can see what's going on in my own cab, you know! No, there are other ways. Look at the dash."

They looked. Between the big dials for speed and oil pressure there was a little screen displaying the weather and time. It changed before their eyes to:

SAM?

Then it changed further, into a little Keyboard and screen.

"A touch - screen!" exclaimed Sam.

"I am a Communications Expert" said Bumblebee. "Touch it. It

responds to finger and eye direction."

"_Like this?" _ Sam typed. It was a lot easier than speaking.

"The eye-direction system is used by your fighter pilots."

"_Did you steal this?"_

"I'm not a Decepticon! I don't hack in, rip off all your Defence files and shut down your communication Networks! But to download what you need - anyway my systems just need a little adjustment on the transformation circuit."

The sound cut out. He touched the screen and it changed.

"_If I say KS it means keep sending."_

"_Hey Bee where did your voice go?" _He typed.

"_This is more covert. You can talk to me any time like this" _

The letters scrolled across.

"Well, now you and Bee have established communications, Sam, can I go upstairs and use your computer for my project? It'll look better that way. I'll see you two later."

"_Bye, Mikaela." _scrolled across the screen.

"_Sure, you got your own account. C u."_ She went off.

"_How're you doing this?"_

"_I'm communicating with you digitally translated into English"._ The colour of the text on the screen changed to yellow.

Sam tried the eye-version. After a little bit of practice it was even easier.

"_This is great!" _he eye-typed. "_I wish I could always communicate digitally!"_

"_You do? It comes naturally to us. But I prefer a voice."_

"_It's new, isn't it, computers with voices?" _

"_Not really. Did you ever have an Amiga, Sam?" _

"_No, a what? Oh yes, I know what you mean."_

Sam remembered the computer junk sale where he'd bought his computer: there had been an Amiga there, a big keyboard- thing you connected to a T. V. He preferred his more modern Desktop with Disk Drive and Monitor and Scanner and Printer.

"_No I never had one."_

"_They were one of the first to have vocal processing units. You just typed in the words and they said them. Now you can quite easily buy the software so you can speak to a computer and it will type, or obey commands, or conversely, and more in the case of if you're blind, speak text back to you."_

"_With digital signal, it's like thought-speak, like a radio or T.V. receiver, computer to computer." _typed Sam.

"Ah, but with a Vocal Processing Unit, you can do so much more."

Bumblebee changed back to the voice, but quietly, getting louder.

"You can change the sex of your voice"- he made it sound like Mikaela - "or the tone" - he made it sound angry - "or the pitch" -he made it sound higher and more musical - "sometimes these things are essential for languages like Chinese. And you can convey joy, put courage into people's hearts or be philosophical."- he sounded like Optimus for this - "You can sing"- he sang- "or make enemies frightened." He growled.

"_You cannot really do this digitally," _he went back to typing.

"O_nly the message gets through."_

"_Bee, this is still going to be hard for me." _typed Sam. It was getting harder by the minute but he did not want to admit it.

"How can I help?"

"_Well, for one thing, I'm cold."_

"Oh that's easily solved." And the car heating came on. But not just ordinary car heating, for the Camaro had air conditioning, not just a ball of heat by his feet, but a comforting current of air all round him that seemed to cushion and envelope him and actually help him to breathe. The car seat seemed to mould itself to his shape, and he leaned back and sighed. Then he typed with his eyes:

"_Please just talk to me Bee, you seem so interested in this."_

"It's really come home to me through my experiences, Sam. But some of them were difficult. Perhaps you might not like to hear-"

"_Please tell me Bee. I __love__ hearing your voice."_

"You w-want to hear the story of how I lost it?"

"_Yes. If that's all right. Not if you don't want to."_

"Well, there's not much to tell really." Bumblebee sounded as if he didn't like the memory but didn't want to appear afraid of it.

"It was at Tyger Pax. On Cybertron. A small band of us, including

Ratchet, Ironhide, Arcee and me, were guarding the All Spark there.

Small because Optimus had sent out a false signal that it was elsewhere, at Simfur, jamming the real one, and that was where

Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons were headed. Or so we thought. He realized the trick and turned up where we were. I overheard his plan to take over the Universe with the All Spark just creating and controlling machines, eliminating all other life. He grabbed me breaking my arm off and-and I was tortured by Swindle which included someone's spark being taken out,to see what I knew. I managed to re-engage Megatron's attention and he said no-one would be able to tell about it, and-and he crushed my vocal processing unit. He threw me off, I don't remember any more but - Sam, you're going to sleep!"

"Uh wha-what? (cough, cough) No, I wasn't , it's exciting."

"Not boring? I wasn't getting much reaction out of you. But I suppose you are tired with the illness -

"_No please go on" _Sam typed _"You're very brave."_

"We were lucky the All spark launched itself off into space then,set off by Prime, and Megatron took off after it or we'd just have been left as curling bits of exoskeleton and coolant fluid. Ratchet repaired my arm and they got me back to base but he couldn't fix my V.P.U. As you said, there's digital. We set off to track it down, and ended up here."

There was a pause.

"That's it. Are you O.K? Do you have anything to say Sam?"

Sam gulped, as it had sounded like Bee had done at the beginning. It had not been a nice tale. He threw himself at the little touch-screen. Somehow eye-typing wasn't right any more.

"_I guess you're right Bee, I am tired but thanks for telling me that, it must've been real bad for you. It's staring at this little board, my eyes and hands are tired, and I've got to do my home study yet, I've been let off my chores tonight-"_

"Of course."

"_Besides, this looks bad, I'm out here, the car engine's running and I'm in here quiet - kids die in cars like this."_

"They do? How?"

"_Hosepipe clipped to the exhaust, through window-sssht!" Sam gestured._

"But I wouldn't -you wouldn't - Sam NO!"

"_You know I wouldn't , and I know I'm not going to, but Mom and Dad and the neighbours don't!"_

"I suppose I'd better let you go then."

Sam sighed at the thought of those stairs.

"I 'll flag up Mikaela on the computer, Sam."

"_You can do that?"_

"It's another computer, of course I can talk to it. There."

"_O.K. I'll log off," _came on the screen from Mikaela.

"There's something else isn't there?"

"_Bee, I don't know if I can get up there."_

"Let me put you up there, Sam. Like Optimus did with Mikaela once. The window's open."

Sam looked up and down the drive. It looked deserted.

"_O. K. But cruise over closer to the house first."_

He did, and let Sam out. Then he transformed, and lifted Sam up to the open window, and looked through it at them. Sam climbed in. Mikaela had left the computer on standby and was watching the T. V. She turned round in the chair as it was a commercial break.

"Hi Bee. Hi Sam. Your Mom sent us up a T.V. dinner of soft stuff -I had to pretend you were here."

"Who's that?" Bee pointed at the T.V.

She looked at the screen. On what had been a car advert a robot was dancing.

"Oh that, it's the Citroën advert, it's CGI."

"Ah. I wasn't getting a signal from either side. Graphics, of course. Just with Optimus's signal sent out it might have been someone."

"_Can… you…do …what… you…did- in- the-car?" _Sam typed to Bee between wolfing down his T.V. dinner with gulps of the coffee that came with it.

"Well I can do a hologram." A life-size screen and keyboard appeared in the middle of the room. Sam tried it out. He wrote:

"_All Spark." _Then _"This is a bit draining. All over."_

"_You can say that again. It's hard to maintain." _came on the screen.

"_Could we talk via your computer?"_

"_Facebook? " _suggestedMikaela.

"_No, MSN messenger, it's easier"_ wrote Sam. _"I can say you live here Bee. Can you do it as a car?"_

"_Is it a secure channel?"_

"_No but we can chat in a private room."_

So he left the window and they set him up with an account.

"_Now," _said Bee in the chatroom, _"Did I satisfy all your curiosity on the All Spark Mikaela?"_

"_Only - I want to know what you're gonna do now?"_

"_We are waiting."_

"_I mean without it."_

"_We'll just have to get along like you. Plants evolved sexual reproduction about 65 millon years ago with the dinosaurs on Earth:animals started it earlier than that with water fleas and such."_

"_Are there any female Cybertronians?" _

"_There are-or were. There was one at the battle I told you about, Sam, called Arcee. There wasn't much need for them with the All Spark."_

"_There's need now."_

"_That's why we are waiting."_

"_I've_ _bookmarked some sites on courtship for you. And Sam, you can copy my homework."_

"_No can do Mikaela, they're onto that one."_

"Well I've done all the research and bookmarked the sites for you then. See you tomorrow." She kissed him on the cheek because of the throat infection. Sam longed for it to be over so they could go back to proper kissing.

"_Thank you so much. Bye Mikaela" _. Her sandals clicked down the stairs again.

"_You can shut down now Bee and recharge if you want to," _typed Sam.

"_O.K. I can continue without the engine but it's a bit draining on the battery" _sent Bee.

"_Thank you for the chat."_

"_Anytime. You enjoy your recharge too, Sam. Don't stay up on the 'puter too late."_

"_You sound like my Mom."_

"_But I'm not. Just try resting in bed when you feel like it. You can always call me up later."_

"_O.K."_

Later it was. He found he really wanted to go to bed and put the light out around 10 30 p. m.

"_Night Bee." _He sent.

Although he was halfway through recharging the line ran across the computer screen:

"_Night Sam. Speak to you tomorrow"_

And Sam found he was really looking forward to the morning.

He found that the best way he could sleep was imagining a nice cup of chicken soup.

His Mom, being one of the best mothers on the planet, brought one up for him.


End file.
